Energy secretary blasted for pulling plug on FutureGen

The U.S. Department of Energy is pulling its support for FutureGen, a $1.75 billion coal-fired power plant planned for Mattoon.

Bruce Rushton

The U.S. Department of Energy is pulling its support for FutureGen, a $1.75 billion coal-fired power plant planned for Mattoon.

In a meeting Tuesday with the Illinois congressional delegation, DOE Secretary Samuel Bodman said the department will pursue alternatives and plans to disband the public-private partnership that is designing the plant, according to the office of U.S. Rep. Timothy Johnson, R-Urbana, whose district includes Mattoon.

Illinois lawmakers blistered Bodman after the meeting and promised to appeal directly to the White House.

As recently as November, the DOE, which was supposed to pay for 75 percent of the plant, had shown no misgivings. But the project has been in limbo since December, when the DOE publicly raised concerns about escalating costs for a plant that was supposed to cost $950 million when President Bush proposed it in 2003.

The DOE has yet to sign off on environmental reviews, and construction can’t begin until it does. Bodman’s opposition remains even after a consortium of power companies that was originally supposed to pay 25 percent of the costs proposed capping the federal government’s contribution at $800 million, the amount specified in initial plans.

Jerry Clarke, Johnson’s chief of staff, said Bodman didn’t specify why he opposes the Mattoon plant during Tuesday’s meeting. Joe Shoemaker, spokesman for U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., said Bodman told lawmakers that FutureGen was started prior to his tenure as energy secretary.

A DOE spokeswoman said the department remains committed to clean-coal technology, but science has advanced and costs have risen since the project was announced.

“We remain committed to advancing FutureGen’s important objectives and are insuring the appropriate due diligence in pursuing a restructured approach that maximizes technological advances over the past five years and harnesses private sector innovation, facilitates the most productive public-private partnership and prevents further cost escalation,” spokeswoman Julie Ruggiero said in an e-mail.

She would not give any details on how DOE plans to work toward FutureGen’s objective of burning coal while minimizing greenhouse-gas emissions.

“We plan to announce further details in the coming days,” Ruggiero said.

Bush included $54 million for FutureGen in his 2007 budget, and he called on Congress to pay for “new technologies that can generate coal power while capturing carbon emissions” in Monday’s State of the Union speech. He did not mention FutureGen by name.

Phil Gonet, president of the Illinois Coal Association, joined a chorus of politicians from both parties who lambasted Bodman.

“I guess the good news is Bodman will only be there for another year,” Gonet said. “This FutureGen project was announced by the president in early 2003. Here we are, five years later, and one of his agencies is pulling the plug. This is unheard of. The secretary of energy ought to be carrying out the policies of his president.”

Durbin and several other Illinois politicians said they’ll ask the White House to overrule Bodman. They sounded angry after Tuesday’s meeting:

[bullet]“In 25 years on Capitol Hill, I have never witnessed such a cruel deception,” Durbin said in prepared remarks.

[bullet]“Secretary Bodman’s response this morning was a slap in the face,” Johnson said in a prepared statement. “This is the worst form of bureaucratic arrogance and insensitivity I have seen in all my years in government.”

[bullet]”Our greatest fears have been realized,” said U.S. Rep. John Shimkus, R-Collinsville, in a statement sent to the media.

[bullet]”The U.S. Secretary of Energy’s proposal to dismantle FutureGen is an example of politics at its worst,” said Gov. Rod Blagojevich in a press release. “Secretary Samuel Bodman is not only jeopardizing the benefits FutureGen promises to deliver, but he deceived the people of East Central Illinois who spent time and resources competing for the project.”

[bullet]”We are not going to just stand down because they tell us FutureGen in Illinois is over,” said state Sen. Deanna Demuzio, D-Carlinville in a press release. “It is far from over.”

Blagojevich, Durbin and Johnson hinted that the situation might be different if Texas, which competed to land the project, had been chosen over Illinois, but they did not elaborate.

Clarke declined to speculate on the Texas angle.

“I don’t know any more than you do,” Clarke said. “None of this makes any sense whatsoever. Bodman is just a bureaucrat.

“This technology is supposed to go around the world. This isn’t just a loss for Mattoon. This is a loss for the state and the country and the world. And this bureaucrat’s playing games with it.”

Bruce Rushton can be reached at (217) 788-1542.

BACK TO THE FUTUREGEN

The idea: Burn coal to generate electricity and inject carbon dioxide into the earth so it can’t contribute to global warming.

The projected cost: $950 million in 2003; $1.75 billion today.

The backers: Besides a consortium of power companies, the FutureGen partnership includes the governments of China, South Korea and India.

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